


The Box from Gram's House

by perfectromanceinmymind



Category: General Hospital
Genre: F/M, Nostalgia, Nurse's Ball, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-09
Updated: 2013-01-08
Packaged: 2017-11-24 05:48:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/631107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectromanceinmymind/pseuds/perfectromanceinmymind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's summer and 14-year-old Cameron Spencer is bored. Join him, his parents and his siblings for a trip down memory lane. Inspired by my own Nurse's Ball nostalgia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cameron Spencer was bored.

He was fourteen, it was summer and there was nothing to do. His parents had gone to the grocery store – his brother and sister had gone with them – at eleven and seven, they were still young enough to think that going to the store meant they could talk mom & dad into getting them some kind of treat, but Cam knew better. They would just tell him to use his own money if he wanted ice cream or a video game or something. Besides, Jake & Page were babies anyway.

Glancing out the window in the back den, he could see through their backyard to the Drake's backyard – Emma Drake was doing some kind of dance routine or something, God only knew what. Cam snorted, flopping on the couch with a sigh – another baby. Emma was younger than Jake. All of his friends had gone off to camp or summer school or vacation with their family – they weren't going anywhere till later in the summer. Mom said maybe next summer he could volunteer at the hospital, but he wasn't real thrilled about that either – mom just wanted to keep her eye on him. Besides, if he volunteered at the hospital, every old nurse he ran into would gush about "how proud your great-grandparents would be" and the freakin' "Hardy family legacy." Not to mention his Great-Aunt Bobbie, still working part-time. Cam sighed again. He couldn't go anywhere in this damn town without running into someone he was related to – sometimes it was really irritating.

With another heavy sigh, Cameron hauled himself off the couch and wandered over to the closet in the corner of the den. Maybe there would be something to do in there. Pulling open the door, he sighed in despair.

"God, what a mess," he muttered to himself. Years of board games, puzzles and random kid toys. There was a bucket of Army figurines – there was Page's old Little People play sets – all kinds of junk. He spotted a cardboard box on the floor and slid it out into the room. His mother's handwriting was scrawled in black marker on the top.

"'Stuff from Gram's house,'" he read out loud and then remembered – it was stuff from his great-grandma's house – one of the many boxes they'd packed up and just stashed in their house until his mom was ready to deal with going through all of it. Great-Gram had passed away almost three years ago, so they must have just forgotten about this box –he was pretty sure mom had finally gone through the rest of them.

Yanking it open, Cam pulled out one of the rectangular boxes. "Oh man," he muttered. "It's a whole box of videotapes! How old is this crap?" He pulled another one out and read the title. "'General Hospital presents the 1998 Nurses Ball.' What the heck is a Nurses Ball?" he wondered. He turned the tape over and read the back copy, which explained that the Nurses Ball was a fundraiser for AIDS research.

"'Performers at the 1998 Nurses Ball included Ned Ashton, Scott Baldwin, Serena Baldwin, Brenda Barrett, Lucy Coe, Dr. Julie Devlin, Dara Jensen, Maxie Jones, Dr. Eve Lambert, Dr. Alan Quartermaine, Edward Quartermaine, Emily Bowen Quartermaine, Mac Scorpio, Robin Scorpio, Lucky Spencer' – Dad? – 'Marcus Taggart, Elizabeth Webber -' Mom too? –'and Karen Wexler.' I have totally gotta see this!" Cam said with glee.

Suddenly thankful that his parents had not yet gotten rid of their ancient VCR, Cam popped the tape in and watched a woman wearing an elaborate ball gown sweep across the stage, her blonde hair in a complicated updo. She welcomed everyone, reminded them about a silent auction and raffle tickets. The tape faded out and then the blonde was back, in a different dress and an even more complicated hairdo. She talked for another minute or two and then finally announced the names of the people in the first number – Cam sat up excitedly – mom & dad were on already!

"Cam?" Elizabeth Spencer called out as she walked back into the house with a grocery bag in each hand, Lucky, Jake & Page behind her. "Cameron! Get out here and help carry these bags in!"

There was no response and she looked at Lucky in exasperation. "He better not have left this house."

Lucky shook his head and said, "No, I think I hear the TV in the den."

"Then why won't he answer me?" Elizabeth demanded. "Teenagers," she continued, muttering.

Lucky laughed. "Please – he's the best behaved kid in town." He grinned devilishly at her, adding, "Especially when you consider what his mother was like at that age."

Elizabeth groaned, rolling her eyes. "Do not remind me. And like you were some kind of angel?" He shrugged and she turned towards the hallway. "Will you get the rest of the stuff from the car while I get him? He can at least help put this stuff away."

Lucky nodded, heading back outside with the two younger children while Elizabeth headed down the back hall.

"Cameron!" Elizabeth called, heading towards the den and – yes, that was the TV Lucky had heard. "What are you –" The words died on her lips as she registered the sound from the TV – a singing voice that, apparently, even 20 years later, could make her weak in the knees.

"Mom!" Cameron jumped as she walked in – he had been thoroughly absorbed. "I didn't know Dad could sing!"

Elizabeth couldn't answer – her eyes were riveted to the TV, the groceries completely forgotten. "Oh my God. Where in the world did you find this?"

"Box of Great-Gram's stuff," Cam shrugged, gesturing in the general direction of the box.

"Oh my God," Elizabeth said again, even though she was laughing by now. "That awful dance – LUCKY!" she yelled. "Lucky, get in here!"

Her husband appeared in the doorway just a moment later. "What? What's wron – oh, holy hell. Where did that get dug up from?" He stared at the TV for a minute and then added, "And can we get it buried again?"

Elizabeth laughed. "Cam says he found it in a box of Gram's stuff – oh my God. Can you believe this? Look how young we were."

Lucky shook his head, running his hand over his face. "Look what dorks we were," he muttered, side-stepping the punch she aimed at his arm.

"Shut up – you had a blast and you know it."

Lucky raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, and it wasn't because of the cheesy dance routine."

"Oh?" she asked, innocently. "Why was it then?"

Lucky rolled his eyes. "You know why," he retorted and his wife laughed again.

"Because you were totally in love with me, even if you didn't know it yet?" she asked, leaning over to give him a kiss and he shook his head.

"Like you didn't have the hots for me, too," he replied, at which point their banter was interrupted by a gagging sound.

"'Scuse me – son in the room," Cam complained and Lucky laughed, perching on the arm of the couch as Elizabeth sank down to sit on the floor by the box.

"Sorry, kid," Lucky said. "Not to be cliché, but you'll understand one day." Cameron groaned and flopped back onto the couch. Somehow, despite his discovery, he was bored again. Parents!

Elizabeth grinned as she started pulling tapes out the cardboard box. "Lucky, she's got the tape of every last one of those Balls. How did I not realize that?"

Lucky shrugged. "Baby, it was an emotional time. We had to get Audrey's house packed up so quickly – I don't think we paid attention to half of what we tossed in those boxes."

"But, honey, don't you know what this means?" Elizabeth said slowly, looking at the tape in her hands.

Lucky shrugged again. "We've got a bunch of videotapes?" Then he realized what tape she was holding – he could just make out the numbers "1995." Suddenly, the penny dropped and her words from a few minutes ago finally registered. "Every last one of them," she'd said.

"Oh, crap," he muttered and she grinned triumphantly, waving the tape case at him.

"That's right, Lucky Spencer – the 1995 Nurses Ball. Site of the long-rumored but never proven-to-me hip-hop performance by you and your father!"

Cameron sat up as his mom popped the first tape from the VCR and inserted the second one. Hip-hop? By Dad and Pops? The day had just gotten interesting again.


	2. Chapter 2

Before Elizabeth could press the play button, there was an explosion of sound in the hallway. Thunderous footsteps came pounding towards the room, followed by the high-pitched sound of a little girl yelling, "MOM! MO-OM! Jake ate two ice cream sandwiches already and then he didn't even put the box away in the freezer!"

Seven-year-old Page Spencer barreled into the den, her eleven-year-old brother Jake right behind her, hotly retorting, "Shut up, Page – you're such a tattle-tale. Why do you always have to tell Mom & Dad EVERYthing?"

Page opened her mouth to reply, but was silenced by a look from her father (even as Lucky himself was, for perhaps the first time in his life, saying a silent prayer of thanks for his quarrelling children and the distraction they'd just provided.)

"Hey, hey, that's enough, you two. Knock it off," Lucky commanded and both children immediately turned to him.

"But, Daddy, they're gonna melt –" "Aw, come on Dad, I can't do any –"

"Page. Stop tattling on your brother. Unless he's bleeding or breaking the law, we probably don't need to hear about it. Got it?"

Page looked mildly pouty, but nodded and Lucky turned to address his younger son.

Jake. I mean, come on. If you're gonna eat the ice cream, put it back in the freezer, okay?" Lucky shook his head as Jake grinned sheepishly.

"Kay," he mumbled.

"Okay," Lucky said. "Now, since we do have a trunk-full of groceries that need to be put away, let's reconvene in the kitchen, alright? You too, Cam," he added, looking back over his shoulder as he herded the younger two into the hallway.

"But Dad," Cam whined. "What about the video?"

"Don't worry, sweetie," Elizabeth chimed in, grabbing her son's arm and dragging him off the couch. "We'll take care of the groceries and then we can watch the video. Your dad thought we'd forget in that chaos, but you'd think he'd know better than that, wouldn't you?" she said as they headed for the kitchen.

"Awesome," Cam replied, trudging down the hall behind her.

"I can totally hear you, you know," Lucky called back down the hall.

"That was the point," Elizabeth grinned back as she reached the kitchen and began unpacking a bag.

"What video?" Jake asked. "Did you buy us a movie?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, I did not buy whatever car-chase-kung fu-bad-guys-everywhere thing you were looking at in the store. It's a video of your dad and his dad. When dad was a kid. Cam found it in the closet in the den."

"Are you in it too, Mommy?" Page asked and Elizabeth shook her head. "Nope, I didn't live here yet. I've never even seen it either."

"And it should stay that way," Lucky muttered under his breath as he put milk and juice in the fridge.

"Oh, come on," Elizabeth said wheedlingly, sliding her arms around his waist as he turned back around. "It can't be that bad."

"Oh, but it is, Elizabeth, it really is," he replied, dropping a kiss on the top of her head before going to step away, but she pulled him back in.

"Please, Lucky? Let us watch it," she implored him, looking up at him with those eyes, the ones he had never figured out how to resist.

He couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, okay, fine," he gave in, then added, "On one condition." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and he continued, "After this one, we let them see your 'Footloose' thing with Emily and Juan." Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned back against the fridge triumphantly, waiting for her reaction.

Sadly, it was not quite what he'd hoped for.

Elizabeth shrugged. "Fine. I was really cute. Had good hair that year." Lucky rolled his eyes as Page piped up, "Emma's mom says you always have good hair and it makes her jealous."

Elizabeth laughed. "Robin is delusional. Her hair is fine. Anyway," she said, looking over at Lucky. "Maybe we should work our way through all of them. It'd be fun."

"Might as well," he agreed resignedly. "And much as I hate to admit it, the '95 one is a good one to start with. If I remember right, that was the year the Ball had a 'Wizard of Oz' theme – you kids might enjoy that," he said, gesturing towards them.

"A Ball?" Page asked. "Like in 'Barbie and the Three Musketeers'? With dancing and a prince?"

Lucky chuckled. "Well, no, not quite. Not till after your Uncle Nik got to town, anyway." He thought for a minute. "I guess the best way to describe the Nurses' Ball is to say it was like a really fancy talent show. It was a big fundraiser that General Hospital did for a lot of years, to raise money for AIDS & HIV research and education."

"Like what Robin has?" Cam asked and Elizabeth nodded. They had been taking summer vacations with the Drakes since before Page was born – with all the pills Robin had to take, they had eventually explained her health status to the kids. But only in the simplest terms - all they really knew was that Robin had an illness she had to take a lot of pills to control.

"Yes. But what you have to understand is that twenty-some years ago, when Robin was first diagnosed with HIV, it was a much more dangerous disease. A lot of people didn't live for very long after getting it." Elizabeth thought for a moment, trying to find the right way to phrase things. She looked across the kitchen island at Lucky, their eyes meeting, and she knew his thoughts were running in the same direction.

Finally Lucky said, "It's partly because of the Nurses' Ball, and the money it raised, that Robin is still here with us. It funded some of the research that developed all those medicines she takes and those medicines kept her alive so that she got to become a doctor and marry Patrick and be Emma's mom." He looked thoughtful. "I'm really very proud to have been a part of it," he continued and then sighed. "So – since it was for a good cause, I guess you all can embarrass the crap out of your old man."

"Awesome," Cam declared.

"Yeah, completely," Jake echoed. "Will you make us some popcorn, mom?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Of course," she replied sarcastically. "I wouldn't want you to make it and overextend yourself. Why don't you go get comfortable and I'll fix you some drinks too?"

"Awesome," the boys declared again before heading back to the den.

"I didn't mean that!" she called after them, half-serious.

"I'll help you, mom," Page piped up and Elizabeth smiled at her.

"Thanks, baby girl. Why don't you just grab some cans of soda from the fridge in the garage?"

Page nodded agreeably and Elizabeth turned to look at her husband, who was putting popcorn in the microwave.

"At least we still have one helpful child," she said philosophically.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," Lucky replied as he turned around, leaning against the counter. "Once she hits double digits, we're screwed."

"Three teenagers," Elizabeth mused. "How are we ever gonna make it?"

Lucky shrugged. "Beats me. Guess we'll figure it out when we get there."

Elizabeth smiled at him. "By the way, have I ever told you how totally hot you are when you go into 'superdad' mode?"

Lucky grinned back at her. "Yeah? You think?"

Elizabeth nodded, moving in close and kissing him. "Absolutely," she said softly.

"Let's hope you'll still think I'm hot after you see this tape," he muttered before kissing her again and she laughed against his lips, enjoying the comfort of their embrace.

The microwave beeped, breaking them apart just as Page came back from the garage carrying a 6-pack of Coke cans. Elizabeth pulled some snack bowls from a cabinet, Lucky filled them with popcorn and they were set.

C'mon, my ladies," Lucky said. "Let's go take a walk down the yellow brick road."


	3. Chapter 3

In the den, Cam had reclaimed his spot on the couch and Jake was sprawled sideways in the armchair, legs hanging over the armrest. Page settled herself in her hot-pink beanbag chair and Lucky sat down on the loveseat, Elizabeth curling up next to him, legs tucked up underneath her.

"Here we go!" Elizabeth said happily as she aimed the remote at the TV and hit 'play.'

Lucky shook his head. "You are way too excited about this," he muttered.

"Yup," Elizabeth agreed. "Now shush."

Resigning himself to the inevitable, Lucky shut up as the screen went black and then the words "General Hospital Presents the 1995 Nurses Ball" appeared on the screen in some horribly mid-nineties font. The tape opened with a montage of the arrivals of some of Port Charles's most renowned citizens, starting with Steve and Audrey Hardy.

"Oh, there's Gram and Gramps!" Elizabeth said excitedly. "What a gorgeous dress Gram's got! Look, kids, those are your great-grandparents."

"Classiest pair in town, hands down," Lucky remarked and Elizabeth smiled.

"I miss her," she said. "And, oh man, do I wish I could thank her for this!"

Lucky rolled his eyes and Elizabeth looked back at the screen to see Lee and Gail Baldwin, followed by Alan and Monica Quartermaine.

"Oh, look at Alan and Monica," Elizabeth sighed. "And – hold up – is that Jason? With all that floppy hair?"

Lucky nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah – that was pre-accident. That's Keesha Ward that he's with."

"Wow," Elizabeth said quietly. "That's just – weird." Then the sparkly gold dress entering the frame caught her attention. "Ohmygod, look at Robin!"

"Is that our Robin?" Page asked and her parents nodded. "I like her shiny dress."

Elizabeth shook her head. "How old is she there – like 16?"

Lucky thought a second and then nodded. "Yeah, thereabouts."

"I swear, she has hardly aged a bit." Elizabeth glanced at Lucky and said quietly, "And that's Stone, right?"

Lucky just nodded, remembering how it had been around the time of that event that they had learned of Stone's HIV status.

Robin and Stone were followed by Ned Ashton and Lois Cerullo and then Sonny Corinthos and Brenda Barrett.

"Sonny looks so young," Elizabeth mused. "And my God, Brenda – that woman is so gorgeous. I never got over being in awe of her. I still can't quite believe that my best friend is also her best friend."

Lucky let out a snort of laugher. "Remember when you crashed their wedding?"

Elizabeth collapsed into giggles. "Oh Lord, how dumb was I?"

"Not dumb, just determined."

"Oh, mommy," Page said as the next couple – Bobbie & Tony Jones - came on screen. "Look at Aunt Bobbie's fairy-princess dress!"

"It is beautiful," Elizabeth said. "We'll have to ask her if she still has it – I bet she'd let you try it on." Page looked delighted at this idea and then her attention was caught again.

"Mom! Look – little girls got to go to the Ball?"

"Sometimes, yes," Elizabeth said, trying to identify the group on-screen. "That's definitely Felecia Jones and I'm not sure about the older woman and so that young blonde girl must be – is that Maxie?"

Elizabeth glanced sideways at her husband, who directed his answer at his daughter, "Yes, that's your Aunt Lulu's friend Maxie. And the older lady is Felecia's grandmother Mariah."

Any further commentary that might have been made was lost as the next couple entered and Elizabeth was immediately distracted.

"Aww, honey, look at you and your mom!" she squeed. "Oh, Laura looks fabulous!"

"That's Grandma?" Page asked. "And you, daddy?"

Lucky nodded reluctantly.

"Nice monkey suit, dad," Cameron said dryly and Jake snickered.

"It was a black tie event – what do you expect?" Lucky retorted.

"Hush, all of you," Elizabeth said. "Lucy's starting the show."

Lucy's first appearance of the evening was in a pink dress as she welcomed everyone, encouraged them to buy raffle tickets and bid on the silent auction and then she disappeared, reappearing a few moments later in a sequined-covered, rainbow-colored gown. She introduced Jeanne White, who spoke for a moment about her son Ryan, who had died of AIDS a few years prior, and then explained that the theme of the evening was "Rainbow of Hope." With that, Lucy then introduced Eddie Maine and the Idle Rich to sing "Over the Rainbow."

"Who's this goober?" Cam asked, a little obnoxiously.

"Ned Ashton," Lucky answered, ignoring the 'goober' comment and then, after reflecting for a moment, added, "Actually, he's my step-brother. Huh. Hadn't really thought about that before." At the blank looks from his children, he explained, "Tracy is his mom." The confusion cleared from their faces.

"Speaking of moms," Elizabeth said quietly, "Why were you escorting your mom and Luke wasn't?"

Lucky sighed. "That was a bad time for them. Mom wanted dad to cut ties with Sonny and when he wouldn't she ordered him out of the house." He smiled ruefully. "You know, the age-old argument in Port Chuck."

Elizabeth nodded as the song drew to a close and then a few minutes later, the curtain opened again on a cornfield and the yellow brick road.

"Oh," Elizabeth said softly as Emily appeared on stage, dressed as Dorothy. "Look at Emily. She looks so cute!" She sat, engrossed in the performances. "That is awesome. All of them were so good! And Emily was adorable!"

Lucky nodded, thinking back. "She was so nervous about that. I remember her freaking out for weeks. Possibly even worse than you over the 'Jailhouse' number."

Elizabeth laughed. "That's pretty freaked out." She shook her head. "I still miss her so much," she admitted.

"I know," Lucky replied. "Me too." Then he frowned at the TV. "Do you realize – except for Dr. Collins - everyone who was in that performance is no longer living?"

"Wow," Elizabeth replied. "You're right. That pretty much sucks."

"No kidding," Lucky sighed. "We're getting too old."

Elizabeth smiled. "Then aren't you glad for this opportunity to relive your youth?"

Lucky rolled his eyes and Cam piped up to complain, "Seriously dad, when will your part be on?"

Before Lucky could answer, on the screen, Jon Hanley finished speaking about tolerance and compassion and Lucy was introducing, "Mary Mae Ward – and the Pips!"

"Unfortunately – now," he muttered, sinking a little lower into the couch.

"Stop it – this is great!" Elizabeth protested. "You are adorable! You look pocket-sized next to Luke and – Justus, right? – but you're adorable!"

"I'm not pocket-sized – I'm just like, thirteen."

"You're okay, dad," Cam proclaimed. "The real issue is what the heck is that on Pops's head?"

Lucky laughed in spite of himself. "That's called a really bad hair decision. Be glad it has never looked like that in your lifetime."

"Seriously," Elizabeth said, "I don't get what the issue is. That was really good! Not really hip-hop though – more Motown – oh." She cut herself off as the music changed and Lucky started dancing. She just stared at the TV for a minute and then, by the time Luke joined him on stage, she was full out howling with laughter. Lucky slumped down further into the couch; hand over his face, watching through splayed fingers. The boys were laughing uncontrollably and even Page was giggling.

"Oh God," Elizabeth cried, gasping for breath through her laughter, "Look at you being all Mr. Suave as you slide that jacket off!"

Lucky just shook his head, letting them get it all out.

"This is so awesome," Cam declared. "Really, dad, what's up with the purple satin outfits and backwards ball caps? This is hi-LAIR-ious!"

"It was 1995. Everyone dressed like crap," Lucky told him.

"You do have a point there," Elizabeth agreed. "But at least we didn't get onstage and dance like fools whilst dressed like crap!" she teased him, collapsing into laughter again.

Lucy had appeared on stage twice and Miguel Morez had sung "Power to Believe" before the Spencer family managed to calm themselves down enough to even pay attention to what was next in the show. Elizabeth just barely caught the name Hardy and started shushing them all as Steve and Tommy Hardy appeared on stage.

"Hush! That's your great-grandfather!" Elizabeth said. "Oh this is cool. I don't even remember the last time I saw him."

"Great-gram used to talk about him a lot," Cameron offered. "He seems like he'd have been cool. Who's the kid?"

"Well," Elizabeth said slowly, "I guess that's my cousin Tommy. I've never met him – just heard about him."

Cam snorted. "Are we related to everyone? Look, there's Gram again," he added after Steve and Tommy had left the stage and Audrey appeared to introduce Lucy & Damian Smith, singing "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better).

"I like this song," Page declared. "Girls rule and you boys drool," she informed her brothers, who opted to ignore her.

Lucy reappeared on the stage in a green dress and multi-colored coat-cape-thing.

"Oh, wow, that cape is gorgeous! I want it!" Elizabeth exclaimed and suddenly Lucky remembered how Lucy wound up onstage in her underwear that year.

"Funnily enough – had you been there – it could possibly have become yours," he replied mysteriously.

"What?" Elizabeth asked, confused – and then it became clear what Lucy's plan was to make up the shortfall in income for that year's ball. "No, she didn't!"

"Oh, but she did," Lucky laughed. "And dad swears it was all his idea!"

"No way!" Elizabeth was transfixed by the bizarre auction unfolding on their TV screen as Lucy doled out her jewelry, gloves, cape and shoes. "This is insane! I love it!"

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy," Lucky agreed.

"Lucky! That's the shoe that sat over the bar at Luke's!" Elizabeth exclaimed as they watched Luke bid on Lucy's left shoe and Lucky laughed at her enthusiasm.

"Yeah – that's why he bought it. He probably still has it stashed at the Star somewhere."

Elizabeth shook her head as, on-screen, Lucy ducked behind the curtain and then tossed her dress out. "There really is no one like Lucy Coe, is there?"

"Don't worry – you'll see her undies yet," Lucky replied as the finale began.

"Wow," Elizabeth said, watching the ladies of General Hospital perform their traditional chorus line. "Gram looks fantastic. I'll have to admit, this is possibly the only reason I'm glad there's no longer a Nurse's Ball – cuz you know they'd make me be in this."

Lucky looked mischievous. "Well, maybe we should start it up again – as payback for the torture you all gave me tonight."

"Whatever," Elizabeth scoffed. "So we laughed. It was funny."

"It was SO freaking funny, dad," Cam told him.

Jake nodded. "Yeah, that was some first-class entertainment."

"You're all welcome," Lucky said sarcastically. "Now can we please never speak of this again?"


End file.
